MIM: Note that 10,000 Hamas and PA terrorists shouting "with our blood and souls we will defend Al Aqsa" and is referred to as a 'vigil' in this ABC News report. Compare this to the Swiss media report with the headline:

It is also not stated a violent massing of Arabs has been a regular occurence every Friday for years, and that 'a planned march' is being used as an excuse for Arabs to riot.

In reality less very few Jews showed up for the march and scores were arrested before getting anywhere near the Temple Mount. Thousands of Arabs had been allowed to sleep there the night before to counter a bogus threat.

While 3,000 police wer busy arresting Jews, a policeman sneered,"You can always spot a settler,".... "They have large yalkmukas, side locks and look like they need a good shave."

Apparently the Israeli security forces are much more proficient at arresting unshaven Jews then Arabs, since Hamas leader Hassan Yousef , was on the Temple Mount after having gotten past several Israeli checkpoints disquised as "an elderly cleric".

A Jewish protester is arrested by Israeli policemen at Jerusalem's Western Wall after trying to enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. (AFP)

Thousands mount vigil at Jerusalem mosque

Thousands of Muslims, backed by senior members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, formed a mass human shield in a vigil at Jerusalem's disputed mosque compound against any possible threat from Jewish extremists.

With thousands of police also deployed to bar the extremists, no more than a few dozen right-wing Jews turned up, after their newly-formed movement had vowed to rally 10,000 supporters at the holy site.

The Temple Mount compound, which is called Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) by Muslims, shelters the Dome of the Rock (Omar Mosque) and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"We appeal to all Arabs and the entire Muslim world to protect al-Aqsa," said Hassan Yussef, a leader of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas who left Israeli officials red-faced after slipping into Jerusalem undetected.

Mr Yussef was addressing fellow Muslims who had gathered inside the compound in such numbers that Israeli police eventually prevented any more from entering, sparking clashes in the process.

Inside the compound however, the atmosphere remained relatively calm and even festive at times with families picnicking under the shade of cyprus trees as they listened to a series of speeches.

At times, the crowds broke into chants of "With our blood and with our souls, we will defend al-Aqsa" to underline their determination to stand up to any perceived threats to a site holy to both Muslims and Jews.

The Muslim faithful had begun gathering at the mosque the night before, many of them sleeping inside the compound for its protection, amid fears that Jewish protesters were trying to provoke a confrontation at the site.

Mr Yussef appealed on the crowds to avoid any direct confrontation with police.

"We have come here to support the al-Aqsa mosque and to defend our holy places. The Muslim and Christian holy places need our protection," he said in an address by loudspeaker.

"The dream of the extremists is to destroy al-Aqsa and to build the temple, so we ask all the Islamic world to join us in protecting al-Aqsa."

The compound is also revered by Jews as the site of the Jewish temple, the holiest shrine in Judaism, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Hind Khuri, minister without portfolio in the Palestinian cabinet who was also among the crowds inside the compound, said the Israeli authorities had been "playing with fire" by failing to deal more firmly with extremists.

She was also furious that some Muslims had been barred from going to the compound by Israeli police on horseback.

"We are not threatening anyone, it is only the settlers who are coming with a dangerous message," she told AFP. "It is almost a sin not to allow Palestinians to go to their holy sites."

Members of Revava, the extremist Jewish organisation which was prevented from holding a prayer session at the site, were also angry with the Israeli police for preventing them from exercising what they regarded as a fundamental religious right.

"It is scandalous that the Jews cannot pray on the esplanade as the Muslims are able to do," said 30-year-old Shlomo Goren.

Rabbi Israel Ariel, the leader of a yeshiva (religious school) inside the Old City, had harsh words for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon whose own visit to the compound in September 2000 triggered the Palestinian uprising.

"Several years ago, Ariel Sharon went himself to the Temple Mount, knowing it was the most sacred place for the Jewish people but now he's gone quiet and is trying to stop us from praying there."

Earlier, at least 10 Israeli militants were arrested in Jerusalem, and around 25 detained in Tel Aviv as they blocked the main highway to the holy city with burning tyres.

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MIM: The media reports that the march could have 'inflamed violence' and that terrorists would 'scrap their ceasefire' if Jews came to the Temple Mount, is another example of how the press plays into the hand of Arabs and makes no efforts to verify their stories.

Besides the proven maxim that "someone who will kill you will also lie to you'. It is a known fact that the PA and their terrorist cronies long ago declared that their 'partial ceasefire' was only 'temporary'.

In the past weeks there have been daily bomb, rocket,and shooting attacks, on Jewish soldiers and civilians as well as countless thwarted infilitrations and attempts at arms smuggling.

The Israeli police detained Jewish protesters who were minors, while a full scale riot erupted at the Jaffa gate as Arabs tried to get to the Temple Mount.

A man disquised as a woman was also arrested, which no doubt prompted false media reports (accompanied by photos), that the Israelis were 'taking a woman' into custody

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Thousands of Israeli police sealedoff a flashpoint Jerusalem shrine on Sunday to foil a march byultranationalist Jews that could have inflamed violence,complicating Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza.

Thirty-one protesters were arrested in scuffles afterauthorities banned the march.

Palestinians had warned they would scrap their ceasefire ifJews rallied at the site revered by Muslims as al-Haramal-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews as Temple Mount. A fewhundred adherents of the Revava ("Multitude") movement, bent onderailing the Gaza pullout plan, showed up for a marchorganizers said would draw 10,000 to a site at the heart of theMiddle East conflict and scene of bloodshed in the past.

But a blockade of all approaches to the shrine by policeappeared to nip any march in the bud and only several dozenprotesters actually tried to push their way into the site.

They shouted "Gestapo" at police and injured an officerwith a thrown rock, but dispersed in mid-afternoon. Thirteen ofthose detained were minors and all were freed after a fewhours.

"We came here to show the world we are unable to pray evenat our holiest place, the Temple Mount," said Jewish protesterEfraim Cohen, 21, a West Bank settler.

"But if (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon thinks itwill be as easy to expel Jews from Gaza as he has dealt with ustoday, he is mistaken. The struggle will continue," he said,before being hustled away by police.

Four Israeli rightist parliamentarians were barred as well.

Hundreds of Palestinian counter-demonstrators also clashedwith police on horseback at an Old City gate before beingdriven back. Eight were arrested, including a man disguised asa woman intercepted inside the Old City en route to the shrine.

Israel had barred Palestinian men under 40 from the shrineon Sunday to minimize any risk of violence with Jews.

The Jerusalem compound, housing the 1,300-year-old al-Aqsaand Dome of the Rock mosques, is Islam's third holiest site.

The site is the most sacred for Jews, treasured as the spotwhere biblical King Solomon built a temple and where a secondtemple was razed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Police kept rightists away from the Western Wall, a Jewishprayer site in a plaza abutting the elevated mosque compound,to prevent any possible confrontation with Muslims prayinginside.

GAZA WITHDRAWAL AT STAKE

The intended march was part of a rightist campaign to tiedown security forces who will be called on to help evacuate8,500 settlers from Gaza, many of whom also vow resistance.

U.S.-led mediators regard the Gaza "disengagement" as a vital precursor to launching a long-stalled "road map" peaceplan for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, landsIsrael captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Any serious relapse into violence could disrupt the Gazapullout set for July and trouble a meeting between Sharon andGeorge W. Bush at the U.S. president's Texas ranch on Monday.

Palestinian militants threatened to abandon a de factoceasefire with Israel if the march went ahead. "If the Zionistsdefile al-Aqsa mosque, they will be planting the seeds of thethird uprising," said Nizar Rayyan of Islamist faction Hamas.

Palestinians staged revolts in Israeli-occupied Gaza andthe West Bank in 1987-93 and from 2000 until the recentceasefire.

Hundreds of Palestinians marched in two West Bank cities on Sunday in protest at the rightist Jews' bid to enter the shrine.

Tensions had already resurged on Saturday when Israelitroops shot dead three Palestinian youths in a Gaza boundaryzone, the first killings since militants agreed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in March to the truce.

In reprisal, Gaza militants fired dozens of mortar bombsand rockets at settlements and Israeli army bases. Nocasualties were reported. Despite the barrage, militantfactions said they remained committed to a ceasefire.

Hassan Youssef, Hamas's political leader in the West Bank,slipped into the Jerusalem shrine on Sunday to demonstrateresolve against the Jewish rightists. Sources close to Youssefsaid he got past Israeli police disguised as an elderly cleric.

"I did not wait for a permit from the (Israeli) occupation.All Palestinians should come here to protect al-Aqsa fromdesecration by Jewish extremists," Youssef told Reuters bytelephone before he was detained. But he urged Palestinians to eschew violence.

Israeli police arrested Youssef as he left the shrine and he was taken away for questioning, a spokesman said.

The shrine, part of East Jerusalem which Israel alsocaptured in 1967, was kept off-limits to Jews from the start ofthe revolt in 2000 until 2003, when Israel restored access tonon-Muslim visitors as long as they did not pray or rallythere. (Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza,Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Haitham Tamimi in Jerusalem)

With entrances to the Old City and Western Wall plaza under tight guard, Jerusalem police this morning arrested the two organizers of today's Temple Mount demonstration in hopes of halting a plan in which a large number of Jews were to ascend the Mount.

Yisroel Meir Cohen, executive director of Revava, a group that planned to bring 10,000 Jews to the heavily restricted Temple Mount today, was detained for questioning early this morning. He had quietly entered the Temple Mount plaza about 3 a.m., several hours before the demonstration was to begin. At 6 a.m. Cohen was surrounded by about fifty officers and was placed under arrest.

"They kept me at the police station for a few hours knowing I wouldn't be able to get to the demonstration to lead protests," said Cohen, who was released moments ago on condition he stay outside the Old City, the walled section of Jerusalem that houses the Temple Mount. "They couldn't even charge me with anything. It's clear they wanted to keep me from the Temple Mount for fear I might start clashes.

Cohen said he will abide by police restrictions and not attempt to go near the Mount.

"Anyway they have my picture, and will not let me near there," said Cohen.

David Ha'irvri

Arrested several hours later was Revava director and senior event leader David Ha'ivri, who was on his way to the Temple Mount when he was picked up by police and escorted to a nearby station.

"I completely expected to get arrested," Ha'ivri told WorldNetDaily as he was being led away. "I even already told the people with me where to meet me afterwards."

As of noon, only a few hundred protestors amassed near the Temple Mount, a trickle of the 10,000 Revava had hoped for. Demonstrators sang songs and danced, and chanted slogans about reclaiming the Mount for Jewish worship. Several Israeli Knesset members delivered speeches about the importance of the Temple Mount to Jewish tradition.

"It's very hard to get in," said Cohen. "With all the entrances to the Old City restricted, and police picking who to let into the Western Wall plaza, so many people are being told they can't get in."

More than 3,500 officers have been deployed around the Old City, with most entrances to the city completely blocked off. Police reinforcements have been sent to Jerusalem from all over the country. A large police contingency has been stationed at the Western Wall since Friday.

Police have been restricting access to the Mount area this morning, with officers turning away anyone deemed "suspicious."

"The situation could get explosive if we let any of these crazies in and they try to storm the Temple Mount," an officer stationed at a Western Wall check point told WorldNetDaily.

Settlers turned away from Temple Mount plaza

The officer then barred a group of Jewish settlers from entering. "You can always spot a settler," he said. "They have large yalkmukas, side locks and look like they need a good shave."

The Temple Mount, the area directly behind the Western Wall in Jerusalem, was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area.

Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians.

The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount.

During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines.

Revava had hoped to bring thousands of Jews to the Temple Mount today to spark Israeli dialogue about reclaiming the holy site from its Islamic custodians.

"This is a Jewish state, and its about time Jews are allowed to their holiest site to pray," said Ha'ivri.